We are beautiful monsters
by TeddyBeer
Summary: Quinn is back in USA after some years living in Paris. She reconnects with some old friends, including Rachel. For Faberry Week December 2014. 1. Unresolved sexual tension 2. Disney 3. Boarding School 4. Costars 5. Online Dating 6. Witness Protection 7. Coming out I do not own glee.
1. Tonight we will, once again, reunite

It's been years since Rachel and Quinn have seen each other. After finishing high school, Quinn went to Yale and Rachel to NYADA keeping the more than occasional text/mail/call and even even visiting each other and staying in Quinn's dorm and Rachel's flat. However, after Quinn moved to Paris for a job offer, the messages had been quaint until they finally stopped. But now, that Quinn was moving back to New York, she wanted to reconnect with everyone from her past: the weird room-mate from Yale, the funny co-workers from that coffee shop, the innocent guy that blushed every time she was saying something nice to him from the bookstore and of course, the weirdoes from her high school.

As soon, as she set her belongings in her new and shiny flat (thank you amazing The New Yorker for offering a job and an apartment), she started the long list of calls she had to make. One by one, she talked to all her friends from a past life, who would have thought that her ex-roommate would be a full time teacher now? Or that from all the people in the coffee shop only one actually made it to Hollywood and all the others were still at the coffee shop? Or that the nice dude from the bookstore was now a well-known writer and famous for being a lady killer?

After 2 or 3 hours of being on the phone she was exhausted and thought about leaving the high school friends for another day, so, she just grabbed her coat and decided to walk around the neighbourhood to get familiar with all the things New York had to offer her.

She has not been in there by herself, always with the glee kids during the high school trips or with Rachel during the college visits, so it was a nice change to discover the whole city by herself. Wandering around, she found amazing things: bookstores, coffee places, video rentals, music shops, flea markets… always getting distracted by the amazing things and the amazing photographs she was getting, she got far away from home without even noticing, when she finally decided to come back home she was penniless (she has spent all her money in books and lattes) and without any idea where she was, the more she walked, the more she found places that were screaming "ran away" to her.

It was almost midnight when she finally decided to call the only person she knew in NY, Rachel. Rachel picked up immediately, a small smile gracing Quinn's features at Rachel characteristic greeting "Rachel Berry here, how can I help you?".

"Hey Rachel, is Quinn here. Sorry for calling you so late"

"Oh my goodness" Rachel squealed "don't apologize, is amazing hearing you, how is Paris treating you?"

"Well, Paris is amazing but I just moved to USA again, today actually"

"That's great news Quinn, if you happen to pass by New York we should meet, I will give you an amazing tour"

"About that, my new job has taken me to New York and… I'm so embarrassed right now…"

"What is embarrassing about being in New York, I mean, I know Paris is amazing but New York is the capital of the world, did something happen to you in there? You aren't running away from anything, are you?"

"No, no. I just arrived this morning to NY, I wanted to check the city by myself and now I'm completely lost and with no money, so I thought I could ask for some help and you are the only person I know…"

"Well Quinn, is kind of sad that you only called me because you didn't know anyone else but anyway is great to hear from you, catch a taxi if you can and come in here, I will pay for it"

"Thanks Rach, I will do it… and it's not what you think. I will explain when I arrive"

Rachel gave her directions to reach her place and in less than 15 minutes Quinn was getting off the cab while Rachel was paying the fare. After a huge hug in the middle of the sidewalk Rachel guided Quinn to her flat and started talking about their different adventures during all those years while drinking some wine.

"So, what has finally made you decide to come back to US?

"I got this amazing job offer from The New Yorker and I could not say no, plus, things with my boss in Paris were starting to get weird"

"Why was that?"

"Well, we were both attracted to each other but they were married and I really did not want to get in any affair, so at the end it was just this huge unresolved sexual tension and work was not being done properly, so I thought space and time was the perfect solution.

"I think that was an amazing idea Quinn, dating married guys is pretty insane"

"My boss was a girl"

"Pardon?"

"I was not confident enough when I left to let the world know but Rachel, I am gay"

"That does not change anything, married man or woman, I think it was great for you to leave"

They kept talking about random stuff until they finished the bottle, Quinn insisted in leaving but Rachel convinced her that it will be safer just to spend the night in the guest room. By the time, they were in bed, they were both thinking how nice the evening had been spent and how amazing was to have each other in their lives again.


	2. Mysteries of the night

Time flies so fast; 6 months ago Quinn had arrived in New York full of expectations and dreams, wondering if she had made the right choice leaving the certainty of Paris for a crazy job offer in New York. And here she was now; absolutely convinced that going back to her country at that exact moment has been the best idea.

Her job was amazing; she was in charge of writing a weekly column about endangered places in New York: coffee places, bookstores, cinemas, restaurants, whatever she could find that would catch her attention and of course her readers'. Along with the stories, she was drawing some cartoons for her own columns and some of her co-workers', which made her pretty excited. She had discovered she could draw way back in Yale but getting paid for it was quite amazing.

Her flat was really well located, just two blocks away from Central Park so she could run there every morning and 20 minutes away from her office by walking, which she tried to do every night on the way back.

She had already made some friends: Mike, the handsome Canadian in charge of a humour column; Pauline, the chef of her favourite restaurant which happened to be just around the corner of her apartment and Manuel, a weird Argentinian who worked at one of the coffee places she had reviewed. Still, the persons that she was more grateful for were the ones from her past; the glee kids had reconnected with her as if not time had passed.

Usually, on Saturdays she would meet Rachel after her play, go out for a couple of drinks and have a pj party at one of their apartments, the next day they would spend it in front of the TV watching old movies or strolling around Central Park. But this was a special Saturday, it was Rachel's birthday and they were going for an exclusive party dressed as Disney characters (leave it to Rachel, to find a costume party in the middle of December). Rachel had made a point about keeping the costume each one of them was taking as a secret, so it was really exciting when Quinn entered the club and found Kurt dressed as Peter Pan, Santana as Rapunzel and Brittany as…

"Hey Brit, your costume looks… interesting, what is it?"

"I'm Rapunzel's hair of course!"

"Right, it looks great B., so who is all these people?"

"Rachel's co-workers, friends from previous plays, practically everyone Rachel has ever made contact with" replied Santana.

"You look stunning as Elsa, Quinn" interrupted Kurt.

"Thanks Kurt, you look really handsome tonight. Have you seen Rachel?"

"Nope, I think she wants to make a great entrance because no one has seen her so far".

Just at that moment, they noticed some movement by the door and Rachel appeared impersonating Anna and holding hands with Sam dressed as Olaf. Rachel started the greetings tour while Sam went to say hi to the unholy trinity plus Kurt. As soon as Sam approached, Santana said:

"I thought we had agreed that no one could know what the others were wearing?"

"Sorry, San, I was not planning to come but Rachel called me desperate because she lost her Olaf toy in the subway and she thought the costume would be incomplete without the snow man".

"That sounds like Rachel… what is your excuse Q?"

"My excuse for what?"

"Well, you and Berry definitively agreed on wearing matching costumes".

"But we did not agree on anything, I had no idea she would be wearing an Anna costume, besides you cannot say anything, you two are dressed as Rapunzel and her hair".

"Actually Q, I had no idea Santana would be dressing as Rapunzel, I just love her hair and I think they don't give to it the importance it deserves in the movie".

"Oh my goodness" Kurt chime in "Have you noticed there is a huge karaoke machine over there?"

At that exact moment, Rachel appeared out of nowhere behind Quinn and started singing "Do you want to build a snowman?" to Quinn.

Several hours had passed and several bottles of different kinds of alcohol have been drank. Just a few people were left at the party, Rachel tried to look for Santana, Brittany, Kurt, Quinn and Sam as all of them were supposed to sleep at her place. Sam was dancing half naked on top of a table trying to teach Kurt some moves, Brit and Santana had suspiciously disappeared half an hour ago claiming they were just going to the toilette, and Quinn… where was Quinn? Rachel looked everywhere for her, to finally find her outside the club talking with a guy who looked way too much into her. Rachel really wanted to leave and thought about a quick excuse to get rid of the guy and save Quinn from him, so stumbling she approached them, turned Quinn around and kissed her on her lips.

"Are you ready to go, baby? Oh, sorry I did not see you in there. I just want to take my girlfriend home"

"Damn Q! You didn't tell me you were already seeing someone and someone as cute as her! We should definitively double date. Hi, my name is Manuel and my boyfriend and I are huge fans of yours".

"What are you doing Rae?" asked Quinn.

"Sorry, I thought he was molesting you and I was trying to help you".

"Yeah, because molesting Quinn is the way to save her from an offender" said Kurt appearing from out of nowhere "I think is time for you to go to bed little Anna".

Quinn said goodbye to Manuel really quickly and followed her friends to Rachel's place which was a couple of blocks away, while thinking how much fun they were all gonna make of Rachel for kissing her while drunk.


	3. A cabin isolated from the world

FRIDAY

Quinn was eager for the next days. They had been planning with Rachel, Santana, Brittany and Pauline to go on a girl-only vacation to a cabin near Chicago. Pauline had been easily adopted into the group, as the first night they met, she sang with Rachel, danced with Brit and helped Santana to kick some asses playing billiard. They were gonna spend a week being grown-ups scouts, Rachel and Pauline had been in charge of planning everything and part of the plans included fishing, hiking and sleeping under the stars.

So, Quinn was leaving her office on that Friday afternoon when her mobile went off, it was Rachel. She had been calling her every 4 hours to remind her of the infinite amount of things a normal person would need to camp.

"Hey Rae, what do you think I've forgotten this time?"

"Hey Quinn, I have the most amazing/depressing news ever."

"What happened?"

"Well, they director from "A song of eternity" called me, I got the role!"

"Oh my goodness, that's amazing Rae, I knew you would get it!"

"Thanks Quinn, but there is a problem, they want me to re-learn the script next week because they made some huge changes plus I'm supposed to get piano lessons at the studio to learn the song I'm supposed to play at the end of the movie."

"Are you trying to tell me you are not coming with us?"

"I am so so sorry Quinn, I was really excited about spending this week with you guys but this is a big thing for me and I can't say no."

"Have you told any of the girls?"

"Not yet, I wanted to give you the news first."

"Hey, that song you have to learn…"

"Yes?"

"Would your director say something if you just learn it on your own?"

"Quinn, I am talented child, but I can't just learn how to play piano by myself in a week."

"I know, I was just thinking that in the pictures of the cabin there was a piano and if you get the music sheet I can teach the song to you."

"Do you play the piano?"

"Yes. My father thought it was great to entertain his guests at our house parties and I've never stop practicing."

"Oh my goodness Quinn, that's an amazing idea. We could have lessons in the morning, I could read in the afternoon while you go in your little adventures and we could drink and enjoy ourselves all together during the night. You are a genius!"

"I know Rachel, let's not forget I went to Yale."

"Let's not forget you are an obnoxious child. I will see you tomorrow at the airport Quinn. I'm so excited! Have you pack your calculator?"

"Why would I need a calculator at the cabin?"

"You would never know Quinn. See you tomorrow, sleep well."

SATURDAY

Of course, Rachel was the first one at the airport; she was sitting on one of her three huge suitcases when Quinn and Pauline arrived with their backpacks. Quinn started laughing out loud as soon as she spotted her. Santana and Brittany arrived 15 minutes before the gates closed, so they all had to run in order to do the check-in.

The flight was uneventful and as soon as they collected their bags, they rented a car that Santana drove to their new home for the next week. As they expected, a piano was in a corner of the living room, on the other side there was the kitchen and in the second floor two rooms, one with a double bed for San and Brit and another one with a double for Rachel and Quinn and a single for Pauline.

They had dinner and spent the night telling stories about their High School to Pauline and their years apart from each other. Rachel was the first one to go to bed.

SUNDAY

Rachel woke up to the smell of bacon, it had been so many years without sharing her home with a non-vegan that she had forgotten how good the smell was. She went downstairs and found a huge sign in the middle of the living room saying "Boarding School: The Unholy Trinity + One", that cannot be good news.

"Morning sunshine" Santana whispered in her ear.

"Damn Santana, you scared me!"

"Good, that was the plan. I want you to be ready in your running outfit in 15 minutes by the door."

"What? Why?"

"After you went to bed, we decided you need some strict vigilance if we want you to learn that huge script and that boring song. So, we created a schedule for you. Every single day of this week, you will be running with me for an hour, come back, have breakfast, lesson with Quinn for two hours, running your lines with Brit for 1 hour, then lunch, rest time, 2 hours with Brit again and then 2 more hours with Quinn."

"I… thank you Santana, but I don't think that's necessary."

"Well, we do, so move your ass."

Rachel knew better than disobeying Santana.

THURSDAY

Every single night of that week after dinner Rachel was collapsing in bed. She had to spend too much energy to keep up with her "teachers", even Pauline was teaching her how to cook, so no moment of the day was free. The classes she would enjoy the most were the piano lessons. Every time, Quinn started playing, it was like all her walls crumbled down and a different side of her appeared, every time Rachel was perplexed and thinking about how beautiful and carefree Quinn looked.

Friday would be the last day of lessons, the script was completely memorized and the song was almost learned, so the teachers had decided to leave the weekend free so they could actually do some of the things they had planned. At this moment, Rachel could only think about sleeping the whole weekend without having Santana screaming in her ear to "get the fuck out of bed and start stretching".

FRIDAY

It was 2:00 am in the morning when Rachel woke up. She sat up in bed and checked around the room, there was no one in there. She thought Pauline and Quinn had fallen asleep in the couch watching movies, it was not the first time that week that that had happened, so she decided to go and wake them up to usher them to bed.

When she went downstairs, she saw Quinn and Pauline under a blanket on the couch, smiling she was going to wake them up when she noticed that Quinn's face was on top of a very naked breast. Her smile turned into a frown, the sleepiness disappeared, standing up she assessed the situation. Obviously, Quinn and Pauline were more than friends, but why Quinn hasn't told her? They were friends, she considered Quinn her best friend. Why didn't she trust her? Rachel ran upstairs, before her face touched the pillow, the tears were falling freely.

At 6:00 am, the usual "get the fuck out of bed and start stretching" alarm started screaming in her ear. Quinn was sleeping next to her and Pauline was out of sight. She went for the usual run and ran faster and harder than any other day, she lost Santana without even noticing. She came back to the cabin 1 hour later than usual, skipped breakfast and instead of practicing with Quinn, Rachel changed her flight ticket to that afternoon. She convinced the girls that her director needed her that night in New York and that she would need only Santana to drive her to the airport. She left without saying goodbye to Quinn.


	4. Round tables and cocktails

_First of all, I apologize for the previous chapter, I read it again today and it feels, indeed, kind of rash and abrupt. I had an idea in mind but not that much of time to develop it. I will try to go back to that chapter on the weekend and maybe all your queries will be satisfied._

_Second, thank you for the reviews, favs, follows in here and the reblogs on tumblr. They are much appreciated._

Rachel's co-star Tony had invited her and other members of the cast for a party to celebrate the first week of rehearsals of "A song of eternity". She was getting ready for it, when her cell phone went off, it was Quinn again, she had been calling her since she came back from Chicago but so far Rachel had been avoiding her as much as possible. She knew Quinn would like to know what had happened on the cabin and she did not know how to answer to that question. She ignored the mobile once again and continued with the search for the perfect dress.

Once ready, she took a cab to the restaurant where they were supposed to have dinner first, before hitting the streets in search of the best club in the area. When she arrived, the make-up people was already at the place, so she sat with them while waiting for the others, it did not take long before Tony arrived and engulfed her into a bone crushing hug. They had become quite close during that week; he was a handsome boy who two weeks ago was working with his boyfriend at a coffee place and whose dream all his life had been to star in a movie. That was why she felt attracted towards him 2 seconds after their first meeting, she knew how hard was to get your dream job and she was determined to helped Tony as much as she could.

Tony sat next to Rachel and started chatting while the rest of the people arrived, he was really excited because his boyfriend was supposed to join them and he really wanted Rachel to meet him, they were both huge fans of Rachel's work in Broadway and so far he had not told him who his co-star was.

Rachel stand up to go to the toilette and on her way there, her phone went off again,she checked it and of course was Quinn, she let it go to voice mail.

I cannot believe you are screening your calls and deliberately ignoring mine.

Rachel turned around to see Quinn and Manuel behind her.

I think I will leave both of you alone – said Manuel passing by Rachel's side – It is nice to see you though, you look gorgeous as usual.

Hi Quinn.

Are you going to tell me why you have been avoiding me?

I was not avoiding you; I just really need to go to the toilette.

And I just happened to call you every time you are going to the toilette?

No… I just… can we talk about this later? I really need to use the lady's room.

Fine, but you are no getting rid of me, until you answer my questions.

Rachel went to the restroom and splashed some water on her face. She had no idea what Quinn was doing in there and was panicking about the full on questioning she knew she would have to deal with. When someone else entered the toilette, she went towards her table thinking that at least she could eat in peace and she would not have to worry about Quinn until the end of the dinner. But of course, this was not her lucky night, sitting in front of Tony was Manuel and next to him in front of her seat was Quinn.

There you are Rae! This is my boyfriend Manuel and his friend Quinn.

We've already met baby, Quinn and Rachel were class mates in high school.

You had already met Rachel Berry and you never told me?

Well, it was that night we fought because of your mom. I was walking around and I saw Quinn outside a club, went to talk to her and next thing I knew Rachel was next to us. By the time we made peace between us, I had already forgotten.

While Tony and Manuel were talking, Rachel sat in front of her friend. The make-up team started congratulating Quinn on her amazing skin and a conversation build up around cosmetics and skin products. At the beginning, Rachel was just speaking to Tony and Manuel but as the dinner went on and the wine flow, she started to feel more disinhibited and started to address the blonde until conversation flowed freely between the two friends.

When dinner was over, everyone grabbed their coats and started walking towards a club Stanley, the director, had recommended; Quinn grasped Rachel's hand and started walking in the other direction.

Where are we going? People are going over there.

I know, but you and I need to talk.

I don't think this is the time, I promised my friends to hang out with them tonight.

Well, I'm your friend; you can hang out with me. Plus, as soon as we finish, we will call Manuel and Tony and they will tell us where they are.

They walked in silence holding hands until they reached a small park in which Rachel had never been before, Quinn release her fingers and sat in one of the benches. Rachel hurriedly sat next to Quinn.

I found out on Monday that Tony was your co-star. I went to visit Manuel but he was not there, so I stayed chatting with Tony, he was so excited about you being his co-star that he did not stop talking about you like in 2 hours. It was his first day of rehearsals and he already had so many stories from you.

He is such a sweet guy. I'm glad he is with me in this journey. The rehearsals are extremely exhausting and is nice to have someone as easy going as him with you.

He also told me that you had to work harder than the others because you were not here on the weekend. Would you care to tell me why you lie to us?

I don't know.

What you mean you don't know?

I was… I was mad at you and I wanted to run away from the cabin.

Why didn't you tell me so? We could have talked about whatever I had done. Was it because I was being too strict on you with the piano lessons?

No, is something stupid. I don't want to talk about it.

Come on Rachel, don't shut me off. Whatever it was, it was big enough for you to lie to us and ran away from Chicago.

I woke up on Friday morning and I couldn't find you or Pauline in the room, so I went downstairs and found you two naked on the couch.

It is not what you think Rae.

Let me finish. I know Pauline has a boyfriend and knowing that you deliberately slept with her took me back to high school and made me think that you have not changed at all.

Is that the only reason you were mad at me?

Yes. After you told me your story with your boss I thought you would not want to get in any weird story like that.

Oh… Well, just to make things clear. Nothing happened between Pauline and me. After you went to bed on Thursday night, the four of us got crazily drunk and Brit suggested going to swim naked, when we came back it was too cold and we all wrapped ourselves under a huge blanket, we just felt asleep in there. I need you to understand that I'm not the selfish person I was in high school and I would appreciate if next time you think like that about me instead of running away from me, confront me.

Oh my goodness Quinn, I'm so sorry. I just saw you naked and started assuming things.

It's ok Rachel. Just talk to me next time, ok? Come on, we have a party to join.

Quinn and Rachel joined their friends some minutes later. Rachel spent the rest of the night dancing with Quinn and buying her cocktails to apologize for her behaviour.


	5. Love grows with every login

How in hell has Rachel convinced her of doing this? It was Saturday night, she could be on a date or having some drinks with friends or having sex with a beautiful woman. Ok, she would probably be in her pyjamas, on her couch, watching some old movie with a really good red wine. But no, she had let Rachel drag her to some creepy bar where the brunette was supposed to meet someone she had found on a dating website. Who joins dating websites anyway? Rapists, serial killers and probably Jacob Ben Israel. That was the reason that brought her here; apparently Rachel loved to meet people on the internet. So far the brunette had been on fifteen dates. Eight of them had been with Israel, two with men old enough to be her grandpa, three with teenagers and two of them with really lovely guys, who were married.

Quinn was not going to let Rachel on her own. She was the most important person in her life and she would try to protect her as much as she could. Even if that meant staying at the bar of a creepy place while Rachel met the freak of the night.

Rachel was sitting on a table by herself waiting for her mysterious guy, so far two guys had approached her but none of them were "SteveZissou". Quinn had to admit that if the guy was a Wes Anderson fan, there was nothing that could be wrong with him and then, she saw him: He was actually dressed as Bill Murray in the movie. She quickly looked at Rachel, she had not noticed the guy approaching her. She jumped from her stool, pushed her way through the crowd and just when the guy was going to address the brunette, Quinn screamed.

Rachel! I'm so glad I found you! Something happened and you have to come with me!

Rachel looked at her like she had grown a horn in her forehead and then she saw the guy next to her. He was wearing a blue diving wet suit with a red beanie.

Wait a minute Quinn. Are you Steve?

Of course I am.

Oh… well, Steve I'm so sorry but my friend here needs me to go with her. I hope you have a lovely night. It was… interesting meeting you.

Would you give me your address?

What for?

Sending you flowers, of course.

That's sweet Steve but completely unnecessary.

And the engagement ring.

Bye Steve.

Rachel grabbed Quinn's hand and both of them ran from that place. He was probably in her top 3 of weirdos, right next to Jacob Ben Israel and that guy in NYADA who collected her finger nails. They entered a quaint restaurant a couple of blocks away, after ordering some food, they started talking about Steve Zissou.

Thank you for saving me Quinn. That was by far the weirdest and shortest date ever.

I hope you had learnt your lesson Rae.

Come on Quinn. I'm pretty sure there are nice people out there. I just have not found the right profile but I won't give up.

Are you that desperate to find someone?

I wouldn't say desperate but I would love to have someone in my life. Someone to hang out with, to talk about everything and nothing, to know that every night he will be waiting for me, someone who knows me better than anyone else.

So, basically, you are trying to replace me.

No! I just… You know what you are right.

You really are trying to replace me?

No! I mean, all this time I've been thinking that I needed a man in my life when all I really need is a best friend and now that I already have it, I don't need anything else.

So, is that what I am to you? Your best friend?

Of course! Why are you having so many doubts tonight?

I don't have any doubts; I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page.

Well, we are. From tonight on, I won't ever go on any other dating website. In fact, I will delete my profile right now.

Have you ever watched "Frances Ha"?

Yes. We watched it with Brittany, someone told her she was a real life version of Frances.

Do you remember when Sophie was getting serious with her boyfriend and Frances was against that? I always thought that they were in love with each other but they were so convinced that they were just the best friends in the world that they never try to see where those feelings were going. Do you see where I'm going?

Done! I unsubscribed from that dating site. What do you want to do now? Movie? Drinks? Home?

I think home is perfectly fine by me.

Do you want to stay at my place? Is close by.

No. I promised Mike I would meet him really early tomorrow for a run and he lives close to my place.

The rest of the night was spent on stories about both of their works. When the check arrived, Quinn insisted on paying and then she walked Rachel home. While the brunette was getting ready for bed, she could not stop thinking that at the end it had been the best date she had had in a while.


	6. The yellow brick road

_Sorry for the delay, but here we go! _

Once in a while Rachel would access Santana and Brittany's flat with Quinn's key while they were working, just to make sure that they had remembered to go for grocery shopping and to check the products' expiration date. She had no idea how these two had managed to survive all their lives without her help.

It was Monday morning and they should be working by now, so, it was a little surprising when she heard the music coming out from the flat and it was really really really surprising when she found Santana in the middle of the living room, dancing in her underwear. Once the shock passed, Rachel took her cell phone and filmed a really embarrassing video of the brunette dancing to the rhythm of "I love London" by Crystal Fighters.

"Shouldn't you be working?" asked Rachel once she had enough to blackmail Santana for the rest of her life.

The surprise of hearing someone when she thought she was alone made Santana lost her balance and fell on the couch quite spectacularly. Rachel ran to her side.

"Are you OK?"

"What are you doing in here?"

"I came to check your groceries while you were at work. But I'm the one who should be asking what you are doing in here."

"They called an hour ago to tell me that there was a gas leak somewhere inside the building and we were not supposed to be around while they checked the whole thing. How did you enter?"

"Quinn's keys."

"And that's the whole reason why she has the extra set of keys of our flat and not you, how much did you see?"

"Actually, I'm planning on blackmail you forever with the amazing video I just recorded."

"Oh my goodness, you made a video? Give me your cell phone. Now."

"Of course no."

Santana tried to grab Rachel but Rachel was faster and ran from the apartment, she could feel Santana's steps right behind her.

"Remember: You are in your underwear." Rachel screamed when she reached the stairs.

"Fuck. It does not matter how fast you ran I will find you and kill you fucking Berry. Don't you dare to show that video to anyone!"

Once in the street Rachel called Quinn.

"Hey Rae."

"Have you ever heard about witness protection?"

"Of course I have. Why do you sound so agitated?"

"I need you to protect me. Santana wants to kill me."

"What did you do?"

"I recorded a video of her dancing in her underwear."

"Oh… she would definitively kill you for that. Don't go to your flat or mine, those are the first places she will go. I will make an excuse up and meet you at Manuel's."

"Thanks Quinn. You are amazing!"

_Thirty minutes later at the cafeteria._

"I want to see the video."

"Hello Quinn. It is so nice to see you again. How are you in this amazing Monday morning?"

"I'm risking my life by protecting you. I want to see if it is worth it."

Rachel handed her mobile to Quinn. Quinn played the video and 2 seconds later started laughing uncontrollably, 1 minute later tears were running through her face, 2 minutes later Manuel brought her a glass of water, she could not grab the glass and it fell on the floor spreading shards everywhere, that calmed her… a little bit.

"Are you OK?"

"Yes, that thing is hilarious and now I understand why you need witness protection. She would definitively kill you if she finds you."

"Thank you for the good news."

"As is your free day, what we are gonna do is hide all day from her. We will let Brittany know about the whole ordeal and when she goes home at night she will calm Santana and you won't have anything to worry about. In exchange for my brilliant plan I want a copy of that video."

"But if she finds out, she will kill me Quinn!"

"No worries, I will take care of everything." Said Quinn grabbing Rachel's hand.

They spent the whole day together as Quinn promised; they visited the Statue of Liberty and look for Rachel's family arrival records. It was a surprise for Quinn to find out that after all those years of Rachel living in the city she had never come to the Island. Not 5 minutes passed during the whole day without them holding hands, contact initiated by any of them. They wanted to go for a movie and maybe dinner but they knew Santana knew all their favourite places, she had been calling all day and at one point they had to switch off their cell phones. So, they just registered at a hotel, asked for room service and even though the room had two beds they both fell asleep in one bed while watching "The wizard of Oz" on TV.


	7. Cue ball spinning right

Quinn and Rachel were walking on a random street in New York on a breezy Sunday afternoon. Rachel had just wrapped her latest play out and was taking a couple of weeks off before starting her next project. They were holding hands, as it was usual lately, never letting go for more than 5 minutes. Suddenly, Rachel released Quinn's hand and ran to a bar; the blonde followed her wondering what new idea had come to Rachel's mind.

"What's up Rae?"

"Look, they are playing pool, I always wanted to learn."

"First thing you have to learn is that they are not playing pool, that's called billiards, look there are no holes in the table. Come on, I will teach you."

"You know how to play?"

"I used to date this graduate student in Paris, she was living at a dorm and every time I was going there her roommate would take me to the games room and teach me how to play billiards and pool and the rules and the logic behind them. It was really hard for me to break up with the girl because I loved to hang out with the roommate." Said Quinn entering the bar.

She asked for a table and started to teach Rachel how to chalk the cue and the objective of the game. In order to teach the brunette how to hold the cue, Quinn positioned herself behind Rachel, showing her with her own body how to bend, Rachel shuddered at the contact.

They spent a couple of hours playing, Rachel asking more times than necessary for Quinn to teach her how to stand around the table and Quinn each time coming closer and closer to Rachel. Quinn was holding Rachel from behind when she finally made her cue ball to touch the other two, Rachel turned around excited and Quinn quickly hugged her. The hug lasted longer than normal and even when it ended, they didn't let go of each other completely, Rachel had her hands around Quinn's neck and the blonde was holding the brunette's waist. Rachel was staring at Quinn's lips; she licked her own lips and started to close the distance between them. Quinn gave a step back.

"I think is getting late, we are gonna be surrounded by drunkards if we don't move."

Quinn started to collect the balls while Rachel was still frozen in her spot_._

"You never told me how you realize you were gay."

"I can give the short version now but if you want to get the long one you will have to cook me dinner first."

"I think that's a fair trade."

They went to Rachel's, Quinn opened a bottle of wine while Rachel cooked and they talked about how Rachel's game had improved during the day and Rachel's plans now that the play was over. After dinner they moved to the sofa with the remnants of the bottle and stayed in a comfortable silence until Rachel piped up.

"We should set a lesson schedule."

"For billiards lessons?"

"Yes, that way we will keep practicing and maybe one day I will be able to win you."

"OK, but you are paying for the beers."

"Deal but only until I beat you. Are you ready to give me the story of your gay discovery?"

"I was at Yale; there was this red hair girl, Allison, extremely beautiful, super smart in one of my classes. I did whatever I could to make her my friend, I would go to any party I knew she would be going, I joined any club she was in…"

"Stalker much?"

"Yes, that's it; I was stalking her all the time. At that time I was just thinking I wanted to be like her and I needed to be around to check her behaviour more. One night at one of those parties, she kissed me, I asked her for her boyfriend and she told me she broke up with him because of me, I kissed her harder."

"Wow!"

"I don't know what I was thinking. Next thing I knew, we were in my room and we had sex in there. When I woke up, she wasn't around; I spent the whole day thinking what I was doing, you know the "I'm not gay, I'm straight" thing?"

"I can imagine, what happened to the girl?"

"She was calling me all day long, I was avoiding her calls because I didn't know what to say to her, come on, she broke with her boyfriend for me, I had to have answers whenever I talked to her. Finally, I realised that yes I had a crush on her. So, I bought her flowers and went to her dorm, she was in there with her boyfriend, turned out, she was calling me to tell me not to say a word about us to anyone."

"What a bitch! Sorry."

"No, that's it, she was a bitch."

"And what happened then?"

"I ran to my dorm crying. Fortunately, it was right before a break so two days later I was going back to Lima, but I spent those two days crying in bed."

"I'm so sorry Quinn. Why you didn't look for any of us?"

"I wanted to figure things out by myself. When I arrived in Lima I checked all our yearbooks, pictures, letters, I wanted to know if there was any tip if I was gay, bisexual or just straight with a one-night stand. I was looking for a signal."

"Did you find it?"

"I don't know if it's a good idea to talk about this."

"Come on Quinn. You are my best friend, I'm sorry I was not there for you at that time, but I'm here now. You can tell me everything."

"Well, I read my diary; it turned out there was this girl I might have been as obsessed with as I was with Allison. Just that instead of following her everywhere I used to be a bitch to her."

"Oh my goodness. I can't imagine HBIC Quinn Fabray having a crush on a girl in high school. Did someone notice it?"

"No, but I knew I still had a crush on her so I just decided to tell her during Mr. Schue's wedding."

"I knew it! I knew it had to be Santana. That's why you were so adamant about keeping her video… Oh! But she went back to Brittany, I'm so sorry Quinn."

"What? No, I kept that video because it's hilarious. My one-night stand with San was because she was lonely and I was broken hearted."

"Don't tell me, the girl said no to you. Who would say no to you?"

"She didn't say no, I didn't even speak to her. But, she spent the night with Finn and I just knew there was nothing I could do."

"What? But Finn spent the night with… Oh!"

Ten minutes had passed without any of them uttering a word. Quinn decided she had made the things weird enough that Rachel would never speak to her again, so she just started to stand up when a hand grabbed her arm.

"I used to have a crush on you as well."

"What?"

"During high school, that's why I was always around you. In the process of trying to get closer to you, I fell in love with Finn, but it the back of my mind I was always wondering what you were doing, with who, if you would like something I saw or how your lips would taste."

"What?"

"Yes, I know. Creep much."

"Why did you never told me?"

"Really Quinn? I didn't like to get slushied as much as the jocks would like to believe."

"But, when we became friends?"

"I thought you couldn't been straighter and by the time I found out about Santana and you, you told me about your job offer in Paris, so it was kind of useless to say anything."

"Wow! So we had a mutual crush and we never acted on it. Way to go, Berry! Let's drink for that."

They opened a new bottle and talked about all those lost moments all those years back.

"Oh god, is 3 am already, I think is time for me to go home. I have an important meeting tomorrow morning."

"Let me walk you to the door."

They got up, hugged quickly and started walking to the door.

"Would you do something for 15-year old Rachel?"

"Sure."

"Would you kiss me?"

Quinn lifted her left eyebrow and smirked. She came closer to Rachel, removed some invisible hair from her face, dragging her thumb across her lips and kissed her slowly. Quinn pulled away just to ask.

"Are you happy 15-year old Rachel?"

"Yes." Rachel replied with her eyes still closed.

"Would you do something for 16-year old Quinn?"

Now it was Rachel's turn to smirk. She did not reply the question; she just went for Quinn's lips. After several kisses by the door, Rachel grabbed Quinn's hand and started walking to her bedroom.

"Stay?" Rachel asked.

"Thought you were never gonna ask."

They spent the night kissing and spooning and making plans about their future together.


End file.
